Mobile charges to be slashed

Calls between mobile and landline and between mobile telephone networks are to be slashed after a ruling by communications regulator Ofcom.

Termination charges – that’s the cost mobile operators charge other networks for handling calls to their networks – are to be cut 80% over the next four years.

Welcome news it would seem, but phone companies may be able to claw back the missing revenue by increasing the cost of calls and other services.

Vodafone has warned that the likely scenario where the cost of calls is increased would hit pay-as-you-go customers hardest.

Vodafone UK chief executive Guy Laurence told Walletpop UK: ‘We are really disappointed that Ofcom has ignored the evidence that termination rate cuts will mean higher costs for pre-pay customers, especially at a time when money is tight for many families.’

So in theory we’re looking at cheaper mobile bills, but keep an eye on the networks as they try to recoup the cost elsewhere.